1. Field of the Invention
The invention refers to a method and an arrangement for producing a smart card.
2. Description of the Background Art
Documents, such as passports, identity documents and ID-cards, particularly in the formats ID-1, ID-2 and ID-3 are often equipped with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) systems according to the ICAO 9303 specification. Normally an RFID transponder with an antenna coil is applied for this purpose. The antenna coil can be produced by etching a copper or aluminium film, by silkscreen printing or by inkjet printing with electrically conductive pastes. Alternatively, thin enamel-insulated copper wires with 30 μm to 150 μm thickness are run on an inner layer, a chip module is inserted on the inner layer or a recess thereof and the wire ends are contacted to the chip module.
The European Patent EP 0 880 754 B1, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,818, discloses a process for the contacting of a wire conductor in the course of the manufacture of a transponder unit arranged on a coil substrate and including a wire coil, wherein in a first phase the wire conductor is guided over and away from a terminal area or a region accepting the terminal area and the wire conductor is fixed on the substrate relative to the terminal area or the region assigned to the terminal area; and wherein in a second phase a connection of the wire conductor to the terminal area is effected with a connecting instrument and the wire conductor is connected while being fixed on the coil substrate and extending in parallel to the surface plane of the windings of the wire coil. The problem with this and other known techniques is, that electrical connections in smart cards are subject to mechanical stress due to bending and distorting and thus prone to failure. This is a rather minor problem in credit cards that are usually replaced after two years. In passports and ID cards, which are supposed to endure about ten years or more, this is a major drawback.